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kāmesumicchācārā

kāmesumicchācāra

masc nom pl of kāmesumicchācāra (noun); masc instr sg of kāmesumicchācāra (noun); masc abl sg of kāmesumicchācāra (noun); masc voc sg of kāmesumicchācāra (noun); …

1. sexual misconduct; wrong behaviour in sexual matters

Built from

• kāmesu — stem · in desires
  Locative plural of kāma (sensual desire); the suffix -su marks the locative plural, situating misconduct within the domain of sense-desire.
• micchā — prefix · wrongly, badly
  A qualitative prefix denoting falseness or error; transforms the noun cāra into a compound adjective meaning 'wrong conduct'.
• cāra — root · going, conduct
  From √car (to walk, move); here it means behaviour or conduct. The root appears in Sanskrit and related to Latin currere and English cognates of motion.

Analysis. Compound: kāmesu (locative plural of kāma 'sensual desire') + micchā ('wrongly, badly') + cāra ('conduct, behaviour'). The term denotes misconduct specifically in the domain of sexual desire, a breach of the third precept (kāmesumicchācāra-veramaṇī 'abstinence from sexual misconduct').

Etymology. kāma 'desire, lust' (from √kam 'to desire'; cognate with Sanskrit kāma and Latin cāmus if the latter is related, though Sanskrit kāma is the closer parallel); micchā 'wrongly' (from prefix micchā-, a privative or qualitative prefix meaning 'wrong, false'; cognate with Sanskrit mithyā 'falsely'); cāra 'going, conduct' (from √car 'to move, walk'; cognate with Latin currere 'to run', English car). The compound replicates the structure of the Pali precept formulas in the early canon.

Meanings from the Digital Pāḷi Dictionary; morphology and etymology by Claude.

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